Student-athletes spend too much time, and put to much work in to not be rewarded financially. They accumulate money through many different ways, which the University, and the athletic department benefit from. Could a percentage of the revenue that Universities make off student-athletes be used to reward those athletes? Do these student-athletes deserve to be rewarded beyond free tuition? For anyone who attends a school in the Southeastern Conference, those people get to see athletes who play at the most competitive level, and are seeking to play beyond college. These players dedicate themselves to their sport as if it were a job and are put into positions where they have to value their sport more than their schoolwork. That should not be the case for a college student ever as the reason they are at school is to get a degree and learn. When someone does work for an organization, and helps bring in revenue they should be rewarded. Student-athletes deserve to be rewarded financially, because of all the revenue that sports bring in, all the attention added to a University when they’re doing well, the risk that athletes take, the amount of dedication the athletes put in, and because it would end the corruption in the NCAA. With the installment of this rule change it would better sports, which is all anyone can ask for. 

“The University of Alabama made almost 100 million dollars from football in 2015. Alabama’s football program made a profit of nearly $46,491,330 during the Tides 2015 championship season.” (Forbes) This was the best college football team in the country at the time, with the most players who could potentially go to the NFL. How is there nearly 50 million dollars made solely off football but a percentage can’t be given to the players who are making that program earn all that money? Even though a lot of the money made goes back into the recruitment of future prospects, paying of salaries, and game expenses there is a percentage that also goes to advancing already advanced stadiums and practice fields. If the University had enough money to do all these things there’s no reason why they can not give the players a salary. The subtraction of the percentage of money would be unnoticeable when being compared to the overall profit the school makes off sports. The only set back that would come into place is a new building by a year, because they couldn’t afford it that year. A year setback in the construction of a building in order to reward players for doing their job is worth it. It is only fair, because they are the ones in control of making all the profit, because people come out to watch them play, and not the coaches’ coach. If you do a job of any sort that ends up making organization money you should be rewarded. 

People would say that free tuition is all student-athletes should receive, because having that burden off your shoulders is an award on its own. “Pay college-athletes? They already get paid up to 125,000 dollars per year.” (Forbes) Although schools give free tuition, that is not all that’s free. There’s a bunch of additional expense that add up that go unnoticed. Free tuition only covers room and board along with the actual tuition fee. Additional costs are all the workouts, and individual training along with any other activity that would usually cost money. These things don’t count as additional expenses, because they are included in the sport. They aren’t seen as luxuries for the player as the player has to do those one on one training sessions in order to get better, and perform better. All that training that they have to put in just in order to have a chance to play on the field is work that is expected. If an athletic department wants people to be attracted to their program the benefits have to be convincing enough so that they have reason to stay. Free tuition along with all the training in order for these players to reach their potential has to be free.

“The year that Boston College quarterback Doug Flutie won the Heisman Trophy as the nation’s outstanding college football player, Boston College’s undergraduate admissions increased by 25 points and its average SAT score of admitted freshmen skyrocketed by 110 points.” (Forbes) The acknowledgement of certain awards will draw attention to a school, and cause them to bring in more revenue, which is from athletics. The athletes are the ones wining the medals or trophies or awards and are bringing larger freshman classes and more applications. These two things help back the argument as to how important college sports are, and how important college athletes are. They can change the entire atmosphere of a university if they win an award of great praise or a national championship. Awards like this can drive players and students to an area, which is less desirable. For example Gonzaga University, which is located in the middle of Spokane, Washington, doesn’t have much to want people to go there. This year, however, they are going to to the national championship which will allow people to get to know more about Gonzaga and what they’re about. It will put them on the map in a sense and give basketball players, on the west coast, who perhaps don’t know where to go, a new option as they see that this is a promising program that is in a good environment to be around and has an increasing fan base. Fans love new places to root for so if a team makes a shocking run in a playoff it will get people to root for them and show them exactly what can be accomplished. It all falls on the student-athletes. If the athletes don’t perform up to par then the revenue will go down because people will be less interested in the program and will start to open there eyes to other places. 

College football players are most likely to be affected if they’re not allowed to be given money by the NCAA. These players have been trapped by the rules of the NFL. The rules of the NFL state that to be eligible for the draft you must have three years of eligibility. Players who have shown they can dominate in their first two years are then forced to play an extra year in order to become eligible. It has happened many times where in a player’s final year of eligibility they get hurt, and then have to suffer financially because they don’t go as high in the draft as they would’ve in the draft due to their injury. (Knowlton, Emmett.) “Some call for LSU running back to quit college football because of the NFL's archaic eligibility rule.” Leonard Fournette is one of the most dominant running backs in college football. Leonard Fournette proved in his sophomore season he was ready for NFL defenses but couldn’t make the jump because of the NFL’s eligibility rule. In his junior year he was dominating defenses still averaging close to 200 yards a game and then he got hurt. This injury put other running backs into the spotlight that will most likely be drafted before him because Leonard wasn’t playing like himself. Had he been able to go directly to the NFL when he was ready to would’ve allowed him to make the most money but since he got injured in his third season which he had to play caused him to have to lose money. He should have a salary even if it is minimal to show some sign of appreciation for risking it every time he goes onto the field in his junior season. This payment should be a small percentage of the total revenue that the school makes and should be distributed to every student-athlete. He helped bring in so much revenue by making LSU a powerhouse and wasn’t rewarded. When working for a big organization and being a big part of why that organization is successful should lead to that person being compensated for their hard work and dedication. 

Some would argue that students aren’t employees, however, if you were to monitor a students schedule I think you would be persuaded otherwise. If they’re students why does their “job” come first to the point where it would force kids to miss class. “The road to the NCAA men’s basketball championship may require students-athletes to miss up to a quarter of all class days during the spring semester.” ( Forbes) Why would anything ever be more important than going to class if you’re a student and that is what you are coming to school for. That’s an argument for why sports aren’t just sports at college although; it is a job. A job that comes with perks and a job that will leave you exhausted during the day, because you have done a full days work and the work is only getting started. These student-athletes can be exhausted before they even open a book. This is not what we need in our system because somewhere in that tight schedule a student who is suffering financially has to fit in a job. It’s said that the average human is supposed to sleep 8 hours a day and the average college athlete works 40 hours a week which is the equivalent to a full 9-5 job. That’s already 13 hours out of the day that are accounted for and that’s not including studying and then possibly fitting in a social life and then having a job. There’s not enough time to fit in a paying job, which helps the case as to how it makes sense fro the NCAA to pay college athletes. Although they’re getting paid essentially with free tuition its still possible that the players are struggling financially because they don’t have time to get a job and have to rely on their own back bone to make it through things. People just believe that these players are fully funded by their schools but they’re not and we the people need to understand that if these players don’t come from the best background they are struggling because they’re still broke. With the amount that these players are struggling it would only make senses that they get a bit of the revenue that the program makes. Even if it is the equivalent to a minimum wage they will still be benefitting from it and will be able to have some spending money. 

The NCAA is very corrupt, however, most of the corruption goes unnoticed, but when the corruption comes to media is when people really start to realize what is happening in the NCAA. “Arian Foster admitted to taking money in college while at the University of Tennessee. I really didn’t have any money. I had to either pay the rent or buy some food. I remember the feeling of like, ‘Man, be careful. But there’s nothing wrong with it. And you’re not going to convince me that there is something wrong with it.” School’s understand that not everyone that get a full scholarship is set for the school year and isn’t going to struggle financially. Players who come from tough areas where there’s a high percentage of poverty are bound to have a tough time financially with all the expenses that the average college student has to deal with during college. The average student will spend money on vending machines, extracurricular, food, transportation, shopping, and more things. The price of all of these things adds up and can take a toll on ones pockets if they’re not financially stable. The schools have understood that in order to persuade certain students to favor their school, they have to do some shady business in giving student-athlete’s money under the table. This adds a risk factor for both sides that can be easily avoidable. On the athletic departments side they can be suspended and have scholarships taken away from them and on the student’s side they can get suspended or ineligible to participate at that program and then forced to transfer. If schools are willing to go to this length in order to get a player at their program it means they are worth it. The player is worth the tuition plus a little extra and that’s why the coaches and athletic programs are willing to risk it all. These actions by the program shouldn’t be illegal because student-athletes should be getting paid. They deserve to make money because although they’re getting their school paid for they’re still struggling with everyday essentials like going to the movie downtown or even getting food. This is the corruption side of the NCAA, which is sadly common amongst top tier programs. This could end a problem with a player picking between a small time school like Dayton and a powerhouse in Duke. If a small school like Dayton University wanted to offer the number one prospect coming out of high school they could only afford lets say 3 thousand dollars worth of expenses for that year. A bigger school\ that might want the same player would offer 8 thousand dollars. When the choices are set to these parameters there is only one way in which you can go if someone’s struggling financially and wants to feel comfortable. If this new NCAA rule was passed, that college athletes received some form of payment for their participation then it would lead to a less corrupt system with the NCAA. It would possibly make the leagues more fair that the big time schools didn’t have a more likely chance of getting a player simply, because they illegally gave them more money under the counter then regular. The passing of this rule would lead to a decrease in both the illegals activities done by programs along with the punishments for programs for allowing special treatment to certain players.

If you were to put the mistreatment into a real worldview here’s an example of what it would be like. A teacher’s job is to teach students and get students to learn the information and overall make the school system look better. A student-athletes job is to practice yearly and help the sport in which they’re playing and hopefully get a championship in that sport. The championship in the sport is the equivalent to the teacher succeeding in her job. The teacher and the student-athletes works the same amount each week so why is one getting paid and the other isn’t? It’s only fair that these athletes get paid for working the equivalent to a full time job. When you do a job and help an organization you should be rewarded because you’ve made an organization do better and has helped the program look better in the eyes of other people. 

The final question that comes to mind is how are you going to actually pay the players without starting a whole bunch of commotion. “College athletes deserve to be paid.” (ESPN), Michael Wilbon, one of the most well known sports analyst on ESPN had something to say about whether or not athletes deserve to be paid. His claim is that the athletes deserve to be paid the tiniest amount as a form of reward for their contributions. He also states that it shouldn’t be the same amount for every sport but rather than that a certain percentage for every sport based off the total revenue that is accumulated overtime. If a programs profit for a year of that specific sport were 50 million like it was for Alabama you would then take a small percentage of that money depending on what the NCAA would set as the standard. You would then divide the total number of funds to be divided and then divide it by the total number of players on the team. That way no ones feel there is any mistreatment. A way they can make it so players who do perform better get rewarded fairly is to make it so certain achievements lead to an increase in money received. That way there’s is a base salary in a sense and then there are chances for extra credit if you put it into school terms. With the breakdown of the money this way it would lead to a fair system that no one would have problems with because it is fair and making sports better.

With all the motivating factors as to why rewarding players with salaries would be best for sports and the NCAA there are many arguments that stand out still as to why they should not be paid. There’s an argument for any reason why they shouldn’t get paid. Student-athletes deserve to be rewarded financially, because of all the revenue that sports bring in, all the attention added to a University when they’re doing well, the risk that athletes take, the amount of dedication the athletes put in, and because it would end the corruption in the NCAA. This is enough reason to change the rule and to think there are more reasons is crazy. There’s too much put on the line by these athletes’ and so much sweat and tears that they have to go through on a normal person works schedule that have to deal with. They have too much on their plate that makes them miss classes some times and fills their schedule up so they don’t have time to get a job. In a world where everything seems unfair it’s appreciated when steps are made to even things out. This rule is a big step for the NCAA, sports, and athletes and should be strongly considered for the future of college sports. 
